Fighters from around the globe dream of the day they’ll step into the UFC octagon for the first time. For three athletes, Saturday’s UFC on ESPN+ 25 event marked that special moment in their career.
Check out this week’s rookie report to see what kind of first impression those fighters made on the sport’s biggest stage from Santa Ana Star Center in Rio Rancho, NM.
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Shanna Young
Division: Women’s flyweight
Result: Macy Chiasson def. Shanna Young via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-26, 30-26)
Record: (7-3 MMA, 0-1 UFC)
Grade: D+
If we’re being honest, Shanna Young had the deck stacked against her from the moment she signed her bout agreement to fight in Rio Rancho.
The former Dana White’s Contender Series competitor agreed to step in on five days’ notice, at altitude, against a fired-up Macy Chiasson, who was determined to put things right after a bad weight cut helped send her to her first career defeat last time out. It meant Young was the biggest underdog on the card, and it was therefore perhaps no surprise that the fight didn’t go her way.
But although Young’s short-notice octagon debut ended in a unanimous decision defeat, there were certainly signs of promise from “The Shanimal” during the fight. Most notably, her first-round performance showed that she has dangerous strikes, particularly off her front foot, with her high kicks finding a home on the side of Chiasson’s head on a couple of occasions in the first few minutes of the fight. She also connected with some solid short elbows from the clinch during that opening round. But once Chiasson realized she could step inside Young’s kicks, the debutant found life much tougher against Chiasson’s clinch attack.
Young shipped a plethora of punishing knees to the midsection, then the head, as Chiasson dominated from the clinch in the second half of Round 1. Those knees may have finished flyweights with less concrete abs than Young, but she hung tough and absorbed everything Chiasson threw at her, while still firing back with elbows of her own. She also fared impressively well with her takedown defense and scrambling ability as she ensured she wasn’t pinned down for long spells on the mat.
Unsurprisingly, after taking such punishment to the midsection in the opening round, Young found the going much tougher in the second and third rounds as Chiasson was able to take the fight to the mat and dominate from top position. Young took a reasonable amount of punishment, but did enough off her back to make sure the referee never had to consider stepping in to stop the fight.
On reflection, a short-notice debut at altitude against fired-up, ranked, opposition probably wasn’t the ideal starting point for a fighter looking to hit the ground running on her UFC debut. But the experience of that first fight should stand Young in good stead for her next outing, which should come against unranked opposition after a full training camp. Then we should get a better chance to assess the prospect at 100 percent.
Young’s early striking success, combined with her grit, toughness, and conditioning on a night where the deck was stacked against her all ensured she earned a narrow pass mark in Rio Rancho. But the UFC matchmakers will likely need to see more from her after the three-minute mark in her next matchup.
Daniel Rodriguez
Division: Welterweight
Result: Daniel Rodriguez def. Tim Means via submission (standing guillotine) – Round 2, 3:37
Record: (11-1 MMA, 1-0 UFC)
Grade: A+
You can’t ask any more from a UFC debut than the performance Daniel Rodriguez produced against Tim Means in Rio Rancho, and he did it on just three weeks’ notice.
The Californian debutant looked as calm and composed as a 10-fight UFC veteran as he walked Means onto his southpaw jab throughout the matchup, then badly dropped him at the end of the first, hurt him midway through the second, then finished him with a submission before the end of the round.
Rodriguez took some solid shots early and had to bounce back up after being taken down in the opening seconds. But he soon settled into his gameplan as he fought smartly off the back foot, landing some solid leg kicks and working his southpaw right jab superbly as Means looked to apply the pressure and stalk him around the cage.
A solid opening round from the debutant became a huge one in the final second as he dropped Means hard with a left hook behind the ear right at the buzzer that left “The Dirty Bird” staggering his way across the octagon in search of his corner. That shot gave Rodriguez all the confidence he needed at the start of the second round, and he started to let his hands go with even more confidence after the restart. He briefly dropped Means again, but smartly didn’t allow himself to get over-zealous in his approach as he maintained his composure and picked his shots well to maintain his momentum through the round.
Then, after forcing Means to cover up with another barrage of punches, Rodriguez moved in for the finish as he backed the clearly hurt Means against the cage. And, when the Albuquerque native looked to clinch up and go for a desperation takedown, Rodriquez switched gears and locked up a standing guillotine choke to force the tap midway through the round.
It was as good a debut as you could wish to see, especially considering the fact he was facing such a seasoned opponent on enemy territory. The welterweight division just got a little more dangerous.
Brok Weaver
Division: Lightweight
Result: Brok Weaver def Kazula Vargas via disqualification (illegal knee) – Round 1, 4:02
Record: (15-4 MMA, 1-0 UFC)
Grade: C-
After waiting patiently for his UFC debut, Brok Weaver picked up a win o\in his maiden octagon appearance, but it didn’t come in the way he would have hoped for.
Weaver spent most of the bout on his backside following an early Kazula Vargas takedown and was left to battle off his back as he showed good composure from the bottom position. Indeed, he even managed to lock up a tight guillotine choke off his back, which Vargas did well to escape from.
But that choke attempt was almost the only offense we saw from Weaver as, just when the bout looked set to return to the feet, Vargas hit the still-grounded Alabama native with a huge knee to the chin that left the debutant all shook up. Referee Robert Romero instantly stepped in and, seeing Weaver looking decidedly rocked, waved off the bout. It meant Weaver picked up the win he wanted, but not in the manner he’d planned.
We didn’t really get the chance to see too much of Weaver’s game, but we did catch a look at his composure off his back, as well as a glimpse of his grappling smarts. But the illegal knee from Vargas denied us the opportunity to see Weaver battle through adversity and put the pressure back on the Mexican.
There’s every chance we’ll see the pair meet again in their next respective outings, and hopefully we’ll all get a better look at Weaver’s game the second time around.
